Unless you choose to help someone die (by, I dunno, administering a lethal injection of sodium pentathol) because they are in pain. In that case you aren't an executioner, you are (somehow) actually respecting the right to life.
I am against the death penalty, but I see abortion and euthenasia as no more than a extension of the death penalty, except at least those on death row receive a trial and numerous appeals.
So you're against the death penalty. What do you think would have been the appropriate punishment for Adolf Eichmann? 17 years like John Walker Lindh? 4 years like the Bali bombers? 10 minutes in the corner to think about what he's done?
When people tell me my stand isn't compassionate, I tell them that my compassion is for all the innocent human beings who have been murdered, not for the criminals who killed them.
See tagline.